“More Sinned against than Sinning” (Short Story by Umm-e-Ummara) Summary

“More Sinned against than Sinning”

                                                             by Umm-e-Ummara

“More Sinned against than Sinning” is an Urdu short story translated into English by Vishwamitter Adhil and Alok Bhalla. The story is written in first person and narrated by Munni Bitiya (Bibi). The title is taken from William Shakespeare famous tragic play King Lear where the titular character makes this utterance. The phrase means that though someone may be guilty of wrongdoing, they think themselves as the victim of a more serious wrong.

“More Sinned against than Sinning” talks about the violence and the destruction of Munni Bitiya’s family, because of her father’s decision of taking the family to Dhaka much against the wishes of the other family members. Though the action of the story takes place a few years after the Partition, the enmity between the two communities still existed, and both tried to destroy the other.

Munni Bitiya and and her family live in Patna, where their mother takes care of every household necessities efficiently. Their father visits them occasionally. Munni’s elder sister is married; she has an elder brother (Bade Bhaiya), younger brother and two younger sisters: Rani and Baby.

Munni’s life is very peaceful, under the efficient hands of her mother. She loves her father and feels happy to see him. The children are well-educated and live a comfortable life. During one visit, Baba tells them that they have to move to Bangladesh because of the political condition. Meanwhile, Bade Bhaiya marries a woman named Pakhi. She is a lovely woman and adopts the language, ritual and traditions of her husband’s family.

Bade Bhaiya is a man who is ready to forget his past and hopes for a bright future in the new land. Then the family leaves for Dhaka and Munni goes to the university. Bade Bhaiya leaves for Phoolbari with his family. Munni’s younger brother takes active part in the politics of the country and frequently gets arrested, much to the dismay of Amma and Baba. When Amma was on her deathbed, she had neither of her sons near her. After Amma’s death, Munni gets an opportunity to visit her brother and his family in Phoolbari.

Phoolbari was a very beautiful village, rich in greenery. Munni was able to rekindle her childhood love for flowers. Pakhi was cheerful always and her brother too looked like a Bengali. They adopted the lifestyle of the land, but still the scar of the partition was so deep. One day, Phoolbari was set to fire and the entire family, except Munni were burnt to death; even Amma’s grave was destroyed and her body floated on water.

The story gives a subtle description of the impact of Partition in the separated regions. The title is justified by the burning of Phoolbari, where Munni silently feels that she is responsible for the death of her brother’s family and also she considers herself a victim. This is because she has to live with the burden of witnessing the entire family’s death. Life itself is a punishment for Munni henceforth. 

"Homework" (Poem by Allen Ginsberg) Summary

"Homework" by Allen Ginsberg

Allen Ginsberg was a famous American writer, born in 1926. He was the founder of the Beat Generation. His poet usually discusses the problems in the society. The poem "Homework" begins with a homage to Kenneth Koch, another contemporary famous writer. This poem is about the cleansing of the world and to make the entire planet pollution- free. The poet uses 'washing' metaphor and puts forth his opinions about the cleansing of the world.

The poet begins by washing the dirty Iran and the United States as there is always war between the two countries. He wants to soap and scrub Africa and restore the animals and bats back into the jungle. He wants to wash the Amazon river in South America and clean the oil spills from Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. These two places have several oil rigs; hence the pollution of water due to oil spills.

He moves to the North Pole to rub the smog out of it. The poet focuses on the pollution of air water and land resources next. He talks about cleaning the oil circulating pipelines in Alaska. Rocky Flats was the place where the spare parts for nuclear bombs were made; Atom bomb was created in Los Alamos. The poet wants to cleanse these places from nuclear pollution and atomic wastes; Caesium is a sparkly gold colour liquid-metal which was disposed in large quantity by a chemical factory in love canal Niagara Falls.

The Greek Goddess Athena's temple is in Parthenon, Greece. Due to the acid rain, the heritage site is losing its beauty just like the Sphinx in Egypt. Sewage wastes have been directed into different Oceans and Ponds all over the world polluting the water bodies. The poet wants to cleanse the Mediterranean basin and colour the sky blue over river Rhine. He talks about cleansing river Hudson, Thames and Neckar and Lake Erie all of which were dangerously polluted due to human activities.

            Then he wants to throw the whole of Asia into the washing machine and clean the Agent Orange sprayed in Vietnam during the Vietnam War by the US soldiers. The poet moves on to throw Russia and China in the wringer. He also talks about the atrocities of US Central American police state. He lays stress on the cleansing of the planet and so, he says that it he wishes to put the whole planet inside the dryer for 20 minutes or for a thousand years until it comes out clean. Thus, the poet discusses about the cleansing of the world, by strongly putting forth the political problems and pollution associated with the places.